The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise. Psalm 110:10
Tennessee is a very homeschool-friendly state! It is wonderful to get to homeschool here! I imagine many of you are using an umbrella school for homeschool (see www.hslda.org for more state-by-state requirements). We have used Homelife and found that they were very helpful in getting through high school, graduating early, and utilizing dual enrollment and CLEP (more about those to come in future columns).
It is important to know that the standards for graduation in Tennessee are very flexible, but still you must meet these basic standards in order to graduate. Homelife (along with other umbrella schools) have a clear outline of what is required to graduate. See http://www.homelifeacademy.com/highschool/Default.aspx?id=11 for Homelife’s college-bound plan and http://www.homelifeacademy.com/highschool/Default.aspx?id=32 for a more generic plan.
One thing I love is how flexible every single course is to meet your student’s needs. Here is the course guide: http://www.homelifeacademy.com/highschool/Default.aspx?id=15
For instance, did you know that Nutrition Science counts as a science course? (imagine a whole year of Basics, Weigh Down Advanced, The Tablet, etc…) Biology for Technology also counts as a science! Math for Technology counts for a math! Theology counts as a social studies (I think we have had a HUGE outpouring of theology from Gwen!!!) You can take Bible, Computer Technology…so many other courses! You do need to center the curriculum around a foundational course, but you are free to enrich, expand, and delve into the learning that God leads for your child!!!
Please take the time to print out the goal-planning worksheets that Homelife (or your umbrella school) provides and check off what your child has and note what they need. It is fairly easy to graduate early in Tennessee as God leads for your child.
We have been so blessed to see this verse Gwen has brought to light lived out in her family!
